(CNN) – Gov. Chris Christie became the latest Republican to distance himself from Mitt Romney Friday for saying President Barack Obama won last week's election by offering "gifts" to minority voters.

The New Jersey governor, who endorsed Romney early in the primary process and acted as one of the candidate's top surrogates, was more restrained in his criticism than some other Republicans, including Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez, saying Romney was still smarting from a negative campaign that ended in an Election Day defeat.

"He's a good man. He will find his level. And I think it's still a little raw," Christie said on MSNBC. "Do I wish he hadn't said those things? Of course not. But on the other hand, I'm not going to bury the guy for it."

"I understand he's very upset about having lost the election and very disappointed," he continued. "I've never run for president – I've lost elections but never for the presidency – and I'm sure it stings terribly."

Romney's interest in parsing various electoral blocs was the wrong focus, Christie said, saying the former GOP nominee couldn't "expect to be the leader of all the people and be divisive."

The type of post-election analysis Romney was offering made little sense to the New Jersey governor, who said it was time to focus back on governing, rather than making excuses for last Tuesday's electoral thrashing.

"I always hate this kind of scapegoating after elections. When you lose, you lost," Christie said.

He pointed to GOP governors as the future of the party, noting gains made by the Republicans in statehouses, compared to a loss of seats in the Senate and House.

"What this is about is doing our jobs," he said. "And people expect that if they give you the privilege of serving. Do your job."

He touted his own success in negotiating an agreement with teachers in Newark to grant performance pay based on reviews conducted by their colleagues, promoting the new contract with Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers.

Christie – who came under fire from some Republicans after the election for appearing with Obama during storm relief efforts following Hurricane Sandy – said the new teachers' contract was an example of finding middle ground in areas where two sides have traditionally been at odds. The funding for the new, merit-based payments will come from a $100 million contribution to Newark schools by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

"We all decided we needed to do something different," Christie said, saying he and the teachers' union located "a boulevard of compromise that exists" between issuing bonuses based on merit or seniority.

"The job of a leader is to find your way onto that boulevard," Christie said.

Newark schools have been controlled by the state of New Jersey, rather than locally, since 1995. Zuckerberg's contribution last year prompted local authorities to petition for control of their schools, a push that was ultimately unsuccessful. Newark's mayor Cory Booker, a Democrat, is seen as a possible choice to challenge Christie in next year's gubernatorial election in the Garden State.

On his monthly radio show Thursday, Booker praised the teachers' deal, saying there was "no contract like it in America."

soundoff(319 Responses)

it must be said

the only loser was the country. stupid americans decided that 4 years of failure and class warfare wasn't enough and wanted more. $5 trillion more debt, massive unemployment and an economy barely abovce recession for 4 years. then a downgraded credit rating and set up for a fiscal cliff. yet stupid americans though it more important to vote for the cool guy with all the gifts instead of the mechanic that could actually fix the problems.

the next four years of pain and suffering will all be blamed on others like the evil rich people that already pay most of the bills while tens of millions pay nothing and live off the system. but the real source of the problem lies in the great welfare society and mentality the democrats, obama and the left has brought to this country. it has never worked anyplace and is now bringing down european countries. yet stupid americans voted to continue down this path. the day of reckoning is approaching quickly. the people of greece and spain have found that out. it will be time for many in this country to find it out as well. it was totally avoidable but you have all become seduced by the false god of free stuff.

November 16, 2012 02:20 pm at 2:20 pm |

SA

Really shows a man's true character when he's not a gracious loser, blaming others instead of owning it.

November 16, 2012 02:29 pm at 2:29 pm |

Roscoe Chait

Romney is still delusional. What a horrible, dangerous president he could have become.

November 16, 2012 02:39 pm at 2:39 pm |

JonDie

Boo hoo.

November 16, 2012 02:41 pm at 2:41 pm |

Stealy Dan

A government that takes from Peter to pay Paul, can always count on the support of Paul. That's how Obama won.

November 16, 2012 02:41 pm at 2:41 pm |

JonDie

"Christie – who came under fire from some Republicans after the election for appearing with Obama during storm relief efforts following Hurricane Sandy..."

The GOP is so pathetic.

November 16, 2012 02:42 pm at 2:42 pm |

dman

The only person responsible for Romney's loss is Romney and his Conservative cronies. Alienating large portions of the electorate. Treating people as if they were stupid, or simple. (example: all young people care about is being able to smoke pot, all hispanics care about is immigration, all single women care about is abortions). Creating their own untrue realities and refusing to believe facts. (Example: study after study has shown that giving tax cuts to the top 1% DOES NOT create jobs, it only increases the deficit, yet the Conservatives refuse to believe it) (Example: things are getting worse, which is totally not true). I truly believe that people got tired of the out and out lies. I think that the final straw was the lie that Chrysler was shipping American jobs overseas (when in fact they just added 1200 jobs in America). I also believe that alot of voters didn't think that Romney had any real plan that would make things better, and that in fact, he could make things worse.

November 16, 2012 02:43 pm at 2:43 pm |

ritmocojo

I shudder at the thought that this creepazoid could've been our next president. Now we can at least rest assured that he won't even be invited to any future GOP national conventions.

November 16, 2012 02:43 pm at 2:43 pm |

v_mag2

According to Democrats on this discussion: in 2016, when we are $20T in debt, they will blame the poor state of the economy on, wait for it ... Romney.

They gotta blame somebody. Apparently, nobody is "over" the election. Least of all the winners. Leadership is a scary proposition. Here's hoping Mr. Obama doesn't screw it up.

November 16, 2012 02:48 pm at 2:48 pm |

Squigman

Wow! This proves you can't keep anything from this guy. He's as sharp as either end of a bowling ball.

November 16, 2012 02:50 pm at 2:50 pm |

Ruthie

We dodged a bullet. His sore-loser remarks show that he didn't really mean it when he apologized for his remarks about the 47 percent.

November 16, 2012 02:51 pm at 2:51 pm |

hruthwulf

Get over it Romney, you big baby. You lost. President Obama won. Stop playing the third party blame game. The people rejected your message. Time to get off the stage....

November 16, 2012 02:54 pm at 2:54 pm |

Rudy NYC

Stealy Dan wrote:

A government that takes from Peter to pay Paul, can always count on the support of Paul. That's how Obama won.
-------------------------
Pres. Barack Obama won re-election because of super storm Sandy,despite the fact that Romney was falling in the polls because of Jeep ad and other false statements..

Pres. Barack Obama won because of the "urban vote" turnout, despite the fact that McCain had more votes in 2008.

Pres. Barack Obama won because of the "free stuff" and "gifts" that he gave out, which is correct. The words to describe the content of those gifts are "Hope" and "Change".

Pres. Barack Obama won because he's a statesman, and MItt Romney demonstrated that he was nothing more than a slick salesman.

November 16, 2012 02:54 pm at 2:54 pm |

Al-NY,NY

boo hoo hoo Flip. Go to LaJolla and never show your face again. As fro Fatty the governer, he'll weigh 500 when 2016 comes around

November 16, 2012 02:58 pm at 2:58 pm |

I Could Have Been A Contendah

I feel bad for the Romney family, who had to watch while Mitt turned himself into one of history's greatest hypocrites. And poor (so to speak) Ann had to call the designers and cancel all that new stuff she ordered.

November 16, 2012 02:58 pm at 2:58 pm |

Wilson

Entire districts in Ohio, Philadelphia and Pennsylvania with 0 votes for Romney, not one. Things that make you go....hmmmmmmm. One, maybe, but 59 in Pennsylvania alone???? Yeah right.

November 16, 2012 02:59 pm at 2:59 pm |

jon

Um, Mitt Romney did win the election. Well the black Mitt Romney did.

November 16, 2012 02:59 pm at 2:59 pm |

just sayin

>rick page
>Dems want a country where we are one american family that looks out for one another.
>Reps want an america where its every man for himself, and forget everyone else.
>Reps are on the wrong side of history

democrats want a country where the familiy is replaced by the federal government. the federal government will be there to provide for your every need. to accomplish that it will confiscate as much of your paycheck as it deems necessary. the needs of your immediate family must come second so that the greater needs of the commune receives what it is owed. abject poverty will be the result as there is no incentive to work more or harder to benefit yourself or your family. all that extra works does is put more andmor einto the hands of the government. welcome to government slavery.

November 16, 2012 02:59 pm at 2:59 pm |

W.G.

You´ll see an occasional blip for the GOP , but it´s basically over for the right wing SHT. Heads .
Romney lost because like all rich republicans , he´s a Liar and a Cheat . Good riddance in 2 years
we´ll vote in a new congress if these GOP SHT. Heads don´t start doing the peoples work !

romney lost is no surprise to me and yet i am black and i voted for him because i not lok at election by color. i said befor the election that romey is not a politician because he does not know that even when something is true he cannot say it and that goes to his 47% comment. that killed him because the masses saw that as "i do not care" he should bblame himself. he gave away the election.

November 16, 2012 03:07 pm at 3:07 pm |

Ted McD

Obama won because he is a better person than Romney in every sense of the word.

November 16, 2012 03:07 pm at 3:07 pm |

Debby

Christie, jindal and all those who are criticizing Romney just lost their chances down the road. They will never get backers if they decide to run. You don't turncoat on one another plain and simple.

November 16, 2012 03:11 pm at 3:11 pm |

Anonymous

Rather than gifts to the poor, Romney wanted gifts to the rich.
That the basic choice between the Democrats and the GOP.